A global site or rather ‘intention engine’ called Intently.co is making it possible for suppliers who are listening to respond to buyers’ requests in the UAE and beyond.

Neil Harris, founder of Intently.co explained to 7DAYS that he could see the potential of his site pretty clearly – even if the inspiration did come while he was looking for an optician.

“I wanted an optician’s appointment and simply didn’t have the time or energy to wade through 101 opticians’ websites, so I dreamed up the idea of “broadcasting my request” to all of them and waiting for them to reply, eager to have my business,” he said. It’s a practice which has come to be known as ‘intentcasting’ – and in theory it should save you time and money.

“I wanted to be able to submit a request – or a ‘shout’ – for potential suppliers to react to while I was busy doing other things. Then, some time later, I could go back to that request and see how it was getting on,” Harris explained. So far, he said, around 80 per cent of requests worldwide get positive responses – and usually within the hour.

Some have asked all golf clubs in their area for membership prices and selected a new club based how responsive and helpful it was during the process.

Another user sent out a successful ‘shout’ for a surprise party. Such requests, though small on their own, are part of a growing trend which has been dubbed ‘the intention economy’ – and Harris believes it will have big consequences for current marketing and advertising models.